The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Some multi-function peripherals (MFPs) include sophisticated computing platforms that support built-in applications and services, such as printing, scanning, faxing, etc., as well as access to Web applications and/or Web services. In order to access Web-based services via the MFP, a user may be required to input authentication credentials, such as a user identifier (ID) and password pair, through a control panel on the MFP. These authentication credentials may vary for each Web service that a user may wish to access. For example, the user may use a particular user ID and password for one Web service, and a different user ID and/or password for another Web service. Entering such credentials each time a user wishes to access these services via an MFP may be a cumbersome and time-consuming process. In addition, the user may not trust the security of third-party MFPs to store or access authentication credentials for external cloud services.
OAuth is a protocol that allows applications developed by third-parties to access a service consumer's account. Within the OAuth workflow, the consumer/user is redirected from a third-party application to an authentication endpoint for the cloud service, where the user provides authentication credentials and authorizes access by the third-party application. This process enables the third-party application to access the Web service without requiring the user to share their authentication credentials with the third-party application. The OAuth protocol can be challenging for some MFPs, which may only support limited-capability browsers or embedded applications for connecting to Web services. For example, the MFP's browser may not be able to connect directly to external Web services, browse the World Wide Web and/or fully support authorization protocols such as OAuth.